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Entrepreneur: Hart Main, the 14-year-old founder
of Marysville, Ohio-based ManCans, which began selling its manly
scented candles in November 2010.

"Aha" moment: Main's 12-year-old sister was
selling candles for a school fundraiser, and he teased her about
the girly scents, telling her it would be cool if there were
"men-scented" candles: "I thought, grass, bacon, sawdust,
leather," he says.

What possessed him: "It started out as a joke,"
Main says. "My sister really didn't think I would do anything."
But to prove he was serious, Main put $100 of his own money into
the endeavor, and his parents put in about $200--with one
stipulation: If he wasn't able to pay them back with money earned
from the candle business, Main would have to reimburse them from
his paper route earnings. Main admits he was also motivated
because he wanted a road bike for triathlons (which he purchased
within a month of selling ManCans).

What's that smell? Current offerings of ManCans
include Sawdust, Coffee, Fresh Cut Grass, Campfire, Bacon,
Grandpa's Pipe, New Mitt, New York Style Pizza and Dirt. New
scents are created mostly by request, Main says--and there have
been some odd ones, like cow manure (when asked if he's going to
oblige, Main replies, "Um, no."), and steak or meat scents.

Customers: Typically adults, and split pretty
evenly between men and women. Most wholesale orders come from
mom-and-pop stores. "All different kinds," Main says. "One's a
shoe store, one's an auto garage."

Marketing: "I started out in Marysville by
walking into stores and just saying, ‘I made these candles, can
you carry them in your store for consignment?'" Main says. "A lot
of them did." Main heard no plenty of times, but still got his
product into a few local stores, as well as 60 others across the
country. Most sales, he says, are made on Man-Cans.com. So far,
about 9,000 units have sold nationwide.

Group effort: Main and his family buy full soup
cans from the grocery store and take them to soup kitchens to be
served. About two weeks later, they get back the empty cans to
use for the candles. Originally, Main's family helped make the
candles--a soy wax blend--but production has since been
outsourced to an Ohio candle maker, with Main overseeing the
process.

Cost: $9.50 per ManCan; wholesale orders of 20
or more get a discount.

Up next: Main will focus on school in the fall,
but says he'll stick with ManCans at least until all orders are
filled. "It's more work than I thought, but I'm glad I started
it," he says. "It's been a good learning experience. It's taught
me a lot about what it takes to start a business and a lot about
what I'm interested in."